History of Languages in India
The Republic of India does not have a national
language. The official languages of the Union Government
of Republic of
India are Hindi in the Devanagari script
and English, a position supported by a High
Court ruling. The languages of the Eighth Schedule, which have been
referred to as the national languages of India since Nehru initiated such a
practice. The 1991 census recognized "1576 rationalized mother
tongues" which were further grouped into language categories. The 1961
census recognized 1,652, and the 2011 census recognized 1,635. (SIL
Ethnologue lists 415). According to Census of India of 2001, 30
languages are spoken by more than a million native speakers, 122 by more than
10,000. More than three millennia of language contact has led to significant
mutual influence among the four language families in India and South Asia. Two contact
languages have played an important role in the history of
India: Persian and English.
The northern Indian languages from the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family evolved from
Old Indic by way of the Middle Indic Prakrit languages
and Apabhraṃśa of the Middle Ages.
There is no consensus for a specific time where the modern north Indian
languages such as Hindustani, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Sindhi and Oriya emerged,
but AD 1000 is commonly accepted. Each language had different influences,
with Hindustani strongly influenced by Sanskrit andPersian. Oriya is
the only classical language from this language family and it is least
influenced by any foreign language.
The Dravidian languages of South India had
a history independent of Sanskrit. The major Dravidian languages are Tamil, Telugu,
Malayalam, Kannada and Tulu. Though
Malayalam and Telugu are Dravidian in origin, over eighty percent of
their lexicon is
borrowed from Sanskrit. The Telugu script can reproduce the full range of
Sanskrit phonetics without losing any of the text's originality, whereas
the Malayalam script includes graphemes capable
of representing all the sounds of Sanskrit and all Dravidian
languages. The Kannada language has lesser though considerable influence
of Prakrit and Sanskrit vocabulary. The Austroasiatic and Tibeto-Burman languages of North-East
India also have long independent histories.
Inventories
Dialectologists distinguish the terms "language"
and "dialect" on the basis of mutual intelligibility. The Indian census
uses two specific classifications in its own unique way: (1) 'language' and (2)
'mother tongue'. The 'mother tongues' are grouped within each 'language'. Many
'mother tongues' so defined would be considered a language rather than a
dialect by linguistic standards. This is especially so for many 'mother
tongues' with tens of millions of speakers that are officially grouped under
the 'language' Hindi.
The Indian census of 1961 recognised 1,652 different
"mother tongues" in India (including dialects, sub-0dialects, dialect
clusters, and languages not native to the subcontinent). The 1991 census
recognizes 1,576 classified "mother tongues" The People of
India(POI) project of Anthropological Survey of India reported
325 languages which are used for in-group communication by the Indian
communities.SIL
Ethnologue lists 415 living "Languages of India" (out
of 6,912 worldwide).
According to the 1991 census, 22 'languages' had more than a
million native speakers, 50 had more than 100,000 and 114 had more than 10,000
native speakers. The remaining accounted for a total of 566,000 native speakers
(out of a total of 838 million Indians in 1991).
According to the most recent census of 2001, 29 'languages'
have more than a million native speakers, 60 have more than 100,000 and 122
have more than 10,000 native speakers.
The government of India has given 22 "languages of the
8th Schedule" the status of official language. The number of languages
given this status has increased through the political process. Some languages
with a large number of speakers still do not have this status, the largest of
these being Bhili/Bhiladi with some 9.6 million native
speakers (ranked 14th), followed by Garhwali with
2.9 million speakers, Gondi with 2.7 million speakers (ranked
18th) and Khandeshi with 2.1 million speakers
(ranked 22nd). On the other hand, 2 languages with fewer than 2 million native
speakers have recently been included in the 8th Schedule for mostly political
reasons:Manipuri/Meitei with 1.5 million speakers
(ranked 25th) and Bodo with 1.4 million speakers (ranked
26th).
Language families
The languages of India belong to several language
families. The largest of these in terms of speakers is the Indo-European family, predominantly
represented in its Indo-Iranian branch (accounting for some
700 million speakers, or 69% of the population), but also including minority
languages such as Persian, Portuguese or French, and English as a lingua franca.
The second largest language family is the Dravidian family, accounting for some 200
million speakers, or 26%. Families with smaller numbers of speakers are Austroasiatic and numerous
small Tibeto-Burman languages, with some 10 and
6 million speakers, respectively, together 5% of the population.
The Ongan
languages of the southern Andaman
Islands form a fifth family; the Great Andamanese languages are
extinct apart from one highly endangered language with a dwindling number of
speakers. There is also a known language
isolate, the Nihali language.
The Bantu language Sidi was spoken until the mid-20th century
in Gujarat.
Most languages in the Indian republic are written in
Brahmi-derived scripts, such as Devanagari, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Oriya, Eastern Nagari - Assamese/Bengali,
etc., though Urdu is written in an Arabic
script, and a few minor languages such as Santali use
independent scripts.
The language families in India aren't necessarily related to
the various ethnic groups in India, specifically the Indo and Dravidian
peoples. The languages within each family have been influenced to a large
extent by both families. For example, many of the South Indian languages;
specifically Malayalam and Telugu, have been highly influenced by Sanskrit (an
Indo language). The current vocabulary of those languages include between
70-80% of Sanskritized content in their purest form.
Urdu has also had a significant influence on many of today's
Indian languages. Many North Indian languages have lost much of their Sanskritized
base (50% current vocabulary) to a more Urdu-based form. In terms of the
written script, most Indian languages, with the exception of the Tamil script
nearly perfectly accommodate the Sanskrit language. South Indian languages have
adopted new letters to write various Indo-Aryan based words as well, and have
added new letters to their native alphabets as the languages began to mix and
influence each other.
Though various Indo-Aryan and Dravidian languages may seem
mutually exclusive when first heard, there is a much deeper underlying
influence that both language families have had on each other down to a
linguistic science. There is proof of the intermixing of Dravidian and
Indo-Aryan languages through the pockets of Dravidian based languages on remote
areas of Pakistan, and interspersed areas of North India. In addition, there is
a whole science regarding the tonal and cultural expression within the
languages that are quite standard across India. Languages may have different
vocabulary, but various hand and tonal gestures within two unrelated languages
can still be common due to cultural amalgamations between invading people and
the natives over time; in this case, the Indo-Aryan peoples and the native
Dravidian peoples.
Official languages
The official languages of the Union Government
(not the entire country) are Hindi and English.
According to the article 343 (1) of the Constitution of India, "The Official
Language of the Union government shall be Hindi in Devanagari
script." The individual states can legislate
their own official languages, depending on their linguistic demographics. For
example, the state of Andhra Pradesh has Telugu as
its official language, the state of Karnataka has Kannada as
its sole official language, the state of Gujarat has Gujarati as
its sole official language,the state of Maharashtra has Marathi as
its sole official language, the state of Punjab has Punjabi as
its sole official language, the state of Odisha has Oriyaas
its sole official language, the state of Tamil Nadu has Tamil as
its sole official language, while the state of Kerala has Malayalam and English as
its official languages, the state of Jammu and
Kashmir has Kashmiri, Urdu, and Dogri as
its official languages.
Article 345 of the constitution authorizes the several
states of India to adopt as "official languages"
of that state — which people of that state can then use in all dealings
with all branches of the local, state and federal governments — either
Hindi or any one or more of the languages spoken in that state. Until the
Twenty-First Amendment of the Constitution in 1967, the country recognised 14
official regional languages. The Eighth Schedule and the Seventy-First
Amendment provided for the inclusion of Sindhi, Konkani,Meiteilon and Nepali,
thereby increasing the number of official regional languages of India to 18. At
present there are 22 official languages of India. Individual states, whose
borders are mostly drawn on socio-linguistic lines, are free to decide their
own language for internal administration and education.
The table below lists the 22 languages set out in the eighth
schedule as of May 2008, together with the regions where they are used.
Even though English language is not included in Eighth
Schedule (as it is a foreign language), it is one of the official languages of
Union of India.
|
Language
|
Speakers
(in millions, 2001) |
State(s)
|
|
|
Indo-Aryan, North Eastern
|
13
|
||
|
Indo-Aryan, Eastern
|
83
|
||
|
1.4
|
|||
|
Indo-Aryan, Northwestern
|
2.3
|
||
|
West Germanic
|
10.35
|
All over India
|
|
|
Indo-Aryan, Western
|
46
|
||
|
Indo-Aryan, Central
|
258–422[26]
|
||
|
40
|
|||
|
Indo-Aryan, Dardic
|
5.5
|
||
|
Indo-Aryan, Southern
|
2.5–7.6
|
||
|
Indo-Aryan, Eastern
|
12–32
|
||
|
33
|
|||
|
Manipuri (also Meiteior Meithei)
|
1.5
|
||
|
Indo-Aryan, Southern
|
72
|
||
|
Indo-Aryan, Northern
|
2.9
|
||
|
Indo-Aryan, Eastern
|
33
|
||
|
Indo-Aryan, Northwestern
|
34
|
||
|
Indo-Aryan
|
0.01
|
||
|
6.5
|
Santhal tribals of the Chota Nagpur Plateau (comprising
the states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha)
|
||
|
Indo-Aryan, Northwestern
|
2.5
|
non-regional
|
|
|
61
|
|||
|
74
|
|||
|
Indo-Aryan, Central
|
70
|
"Classical" languages
In 2004, the Government of India declared that
languages that met certain requirements could be accorded the status of a
"Classical Language in India". (These are not classical languages in the usual sense.)
Languages thus far declared to be Classical are Tamil (in
2004), Sanskrit (in
2005), Telugu (in 2008), Kannada (in
2008), Malayalam (in 2013) and Oriya (in
2014).
In a 2006 press release, Minister of Tourism & Culture
Ambika Soni told the Rajya Sabha the following criteria were laid down to
determine the eligibility of languages to be considered for classification as a
"Classical Language",
High antiquity of its early texts/recorded history over a
period of 1500–2000 years; a body of ancient literature/texts, which is
considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers; the literary
tradition be original and not borrowed from another speech community; the
classical language and literature being distinct from modern, there may also be
a discontinuity between the classical language and its later forms or its
offshoots.
The Indian Government has been criticised for not
including Pali as
a classical language, as experts have argued it fits all of the above criteria.
Benefits
As per Government of India's Resolution No.
2-16/2004-US(Akademies) dated 1 November 2004, the benefits that will accrue to
a language declared as "Classical Language" are
Two major international awards for scholars of eminence in
Classical Indian Languages are awarded annually.
A 'Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Languages'
is set up.
The University Grants Commission be
requested to create, to start with at least in the Central Universities, a
certain number of Professional Chairs for Classical Languages for scholars of
eminence in Classical Indian Languages.
Other local languages and dialects
In addition, the 2001 census identified the following native
languages (i.e. languages and dialects) having more than one million speakers.
All were grouped under Hindi or Oriya.
|
Languages
|
No. of native speakers
|
|
33,099,497
|
|
|
18,355,613
|
|
|
2,23,453
|
|
|
13,978,565
|
|
|
13,260,186
|
|
|
7,997,192
|
|
|
7,936,183
|
|
|
5,565,167
|
|
|
5,091,697
|
|
|
4,725,927
|
|
|
3,072,147
|
|
|
2,865,011
|
|
|
2,832,825
|
|
|
2,707,562
|
|
|
2,529,308
|
|
|
2,462,867
|
|
|
2,267,314
|
|
|
2,148,146
|
|
|
2,044,776
|
|
|
2,003,783
|
|
|
1,890,000
|
|
|
1,871,130
|
|
|
1,458,533
|
|
|
1,434,123
|
|
|
1,259,821
|
|
|
1,242,586
|
|
|
1,217,019
|
|
|
1,122,843
|
Regional languages
At a tourist site in Bangalore,
most widely spoken Indian Dravidianlanguages are shown along with north
Indian language Hindi. Top to bottom, the languages are Hindi, Kannada,Tamil, Telugu,
and Malayalam.
English and many other European languages are also provided here.
In British India, English was the sole language
used for administrative purposes as well as
for higher education purposes. When India
became independent in 1947, the Indian legislators had
the challenge of choosing a language for official communication as well as for
communication between different linguistic regions across India. The choices
available were:
Making "Hindi", which a plurality of the people
(41%) identified as their native language, the official language, though
only a minority of these "Hindi" speakers spoke Hindi proper.
Making English, as preferred by non-Hindi speakers,
particularly Kannadigas and Tamils, and
those from Mizoram and Nagaland,
the official language. See also Anti-Hindi agitations.
Declare both Hindi and English as official languages and
each state is given freedom to choose the official language of the state.
The Indian constitution, in 1950,
declared Hindi in Devanagari script
to be the official language of the
union. Unless Parliament decided otherwise, the use of English for
official purposes was to cease 15 years after the constitution came into
effect, i.e. on 26 January 1965. The prospect of the changeover, however, led
to much alarm in the non Hindi-speaking areas of India, especially Dravidian-speaking states in South India whose
languages were not related to Hindi at all (see examples at right). As a
result, Parliament enacted the Official Languages Act in 1963, which
provided for the continued use of English for official purposes along with
Hindi, even after 1965.
Practical problems
India has hundreds of languages in use. Therefore, choosing
any single language as an official language presents serious problems to all
those whose "mother tongue" is different. However, all the boards of education across India,
recognize the 'need' for training people to one common language. This
results in many complaints: There are many complaints that in North India,
non-Hindi speakers have language trouble. Similarly, there are numerous
complaints that all North Indians have to undergo considerable difficulties on
account of language when traveling to South India.
It is common to hear of incidents that result due to friction between those who
strongly believe in the chosen official
language, and those who follow the thought that the chosen language(s)
do not take into account everyone's preferences. Local official language
commissions have been established and various steps are being taken in a
direction to reduce tensions and friction.
Language conflicts
There are some significant conflicts over linguistic
rights in India.
The first major linguistic conflict, known as the Anti-Hindi agitations of Tamil Nadu,
took place in Tamil Nadu against the implementation of Hindi as the sole
official language of India. Political analysts consider this as a major factor
in bringing DMK to power and leading to the
ousting and nearly total elimination of the Congress party in Tamil Nadu. Strong
cultural pride based on language is also found in other Indian states such as
Bengal, Maharashtra and in Karnataka. To express disapproval of the imposition
of an alien language Hindi on its people as a result of the central government overstepping
its constitutional authority, Maharashtra and Karnataka Governments made the
state languages compulsory in educational institutions.
However, in Andhra
Pradesh , Telangana and Kerala, in
majority of the schools, students have to learn English and one chosen regional
language (Telugu, Urdu or Hindi) as the main language subjects, and learn
another language (Telugu, or Hindi, or Special English) as a special language
subject. So, usually they learn three in total.
The Government of India attempts to assuage
these conflicts with various campaigns, coordinated by the Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, a
branch of the Department of Higher Education, Language Bureau, Ministry of Human Resource
Development.
Writing systems
Various Indian languages have corresponding scripts for
them. The Hindi, Marathi and Angika languages
are all written using the Devanagari script. Most languages are written using a
script specific to them, such as Assamese with Assamese/Axomiya, Bengali with Bengali, Punjabi with Gurmukhi, Oriya with Utkal Lipi,
Gujarati with Gujarati, etc. Urdu and
sometimes Kashmiri, Saraiki and Sindhi are
written in modified versions of the Perso-Arabic
script. With this one exception, the scripts of Indian languages are
native to India.
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